LE MYSTÈRE DU GUÉ PUCELLE

3.5 stars. This is album number three from this trio out of France. Beginning as a duo they have used programmed drums right from the start and continue to do so. They might be the best at it though as it took me a long time to realize it on their debut. I am such a fan of this band with three guys all playing synths and keyboards then add guitar, bass and some real percussion from these multi-instrumentalists. This is the first album of theirs that didn't click with me right away, I feel it doesn't end well with those last two tracks but I also feel the first three tunes are a very solid 4 stars worth of material.

So they are inconsistent for the first time in my musical world and they have Jean-Luc Payssan from MINIMUM VITAL adding guitar, vocals, sitar and mandolin on the second last track "Pulsar" and he changes their sound and not always for the best but I do like the vocal melodies he offers up. His brother Thierry also from MINIMUM VITAL guested on ALCO FRISBASS' first two records so I guess they thought they'd give brother some love. I'm really not into the country-ish guitar on that closer or the fake drums which I feel get exposed on energetic songs. Having brought up the negative stuff I need to mention what I have always loved about this band and that's the mellotron and distorted canterbury organ, and both are featured very well on the opening three tunes.

So this was a tough one to rate for me but in the end I'm happy to focus my listening of this band to their first two records which are both very good to say the least. The first two were released on Fading Records while this one was self-released and I really like the packaging with the pictures of the instruments and so on.